German imports fall more than exports, widening Sept trade surplus

Reuters Staff

1 Min Read

BERLIN, Nov 9 (Reuters) - German imports fell more than exports in September to widen the trade surplus slightly, data showed on Thursday, leaving domestic consumption to drive growth in Europe’s largest economy.

Seasonally adjusted exports fell by 0.4 percent on the month while imports were down by 1.0 percent, data from the Federal Statistics Office showed. The contractions came after two successive months of growth in both exports and imports.

A Reuters poll had pointed to exports falling by 1.1 percent and imports rising by 0.3 percent.

The seasonally adjusted trade surplus widened to 21.8 billion euros from a downwardly revised 21.3 billion euros ($24.73 billion) in August. The September reading was higher than the Reuters consensus forecast of 21.1 billion euros.

Germany’s wider current account surplus, which measures the flow of goods, services and investments, rose to 25.4 billion euros after an upwardly revised reading of 18.0 billion euros in August, unadjusted data showed.